Carver child care center looks to future, ready to help kids again

MOLLY BARTELS / COURIER & PRESS
Rosalind Salinas, lead teacher for infants and toddlers, reads to Arhiana Parkman at the Carver Community Organization child care center in Evansville on Thursday. The center recently reopened after being closed due to an environmental issue.

Ilijah McBane, 3, pretends he is flying an airplane at the center. Carver is caring for children again after its cleanup.

Carver Community Organization's child care center is back in business, but the Evansville nonprofit agency still faces a long road back to solid financial ground.

An environmental issue forced the center at 400 SE Eighth St. to close from February until July. Carver offers numerous programs for all ages, but about 60 percent of its revenue comes from its child care service.

Executive Director David Wagner said the center reopened July 25 with 12 children; the number has since climbed to 60. But enrollment needs to reach 109 for Carver to meet its obligations.

Carver lost about $15,000 per month while the center was closed, and 21 staff members were laid off. Wagner said 11 of them have been recalled.

Revenue from daycare "is vital to our organization," Wagner said, noting Evansville families have continued to show a need for affordable child care. Carver has a sliding fee scale based on income, and government assistance is available for certain families.

The center was closed as a precaution because of elevated levels of a chemical called trichloroethylene beneath the facility's floor. The contamination dated to the 1990s, when the property was still owned by the Swanson-Nunn Electric Co. and used to repair electrical motors and transformers.

A device was installed underground to filter out any substance that could be harmful.

With that problem resolved, Wagner and Carver's Board of Directors are focusing on growing the child care center enrollment and on private fund-raising to support all of the agency's programs.

Carver offers after-school tutoring and recreation at the C.K. Newsome Center. Tax filing help, smoking cessation classes, college preparation sessions and more are provided at the same location.

Carver also has an adult day care service.

"We've got to develop a plan so the organization is sustained for a long period of time," said David Nicholson, a Carver board member.

The public is welcome to attend a grand reopening celebration for the child care center at 11:30 a.m. Nov. 18. More information about Carver's mission and services can be found at carver org.org.